“Yeah, I’d buy a ticket for that game,” said the Edmonton Oilers bench boss, who had McDavid and Matthews on the same No. 1 line for his hugely entertaining Team North America at September’s World Cup of Hockey.

“I can’t remember the last time I actually bought a ticket for a hockey game, but if I’m a fan I want to see this one. It’s the future of the league right there.”

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, left, and Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews will face each other for the first time in NHL play on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016, in Toronto. McDavid was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Matthews the first pick in 2016.Canadian Press/Getty Images

Maple Leafs rookie centre Matthews, 19, became the only National Hockey League player to score four goals in his first game when he put on a staggering show against his former Swiss League coach Marc Crawford and the Ottawa Senators Oct. 12. And the human highlight package McDavid leads the NHL in points as he tries to become the first Oiler to win a scoring title since Wayne Gretzky did it 30 years ago.

Frankly, this head-to-head matchup belongs on Hockey Night in Canada. On a Saturday, not a Tuesday night, the day after Halloween, but that’s on the NHL’s schedule-maker.

Maybe a stand-alone instead of part of a 12-game Tuesday package around the league.

McDavid, who has 12 points, has had the game circled on his calendar for weeks but as a two-pronged deal because it’s the Leafs, in Toronto, the team he lived and died with as schoolboy. He played them at Rexall Place last Feb. 12, with his biggest NHL output (five points), but Tuesday in T.O. is his official homecoming.

“I’m looking forward to it, first time at the ACC (Air Canada Centre) playing against the Leafs. That’s the team I grew up watching,” said McDavid, who was visibly upset last Nov. 30, the day after the Grey Cup, as he met the media the morning of the Oilers’ visit there. He was 3½ weeks into his rehab for a busted collarbone.

“The World Cup was special and rocking every night. I’m hopeful it (ACC) will be the same way (Tuesday),” said McDavid.

The decibel level in the building, not to mention the pre-game hype, will be sky-high.

“Connor’s played a lot of other games in the Toronto area — world junior, World Cup at the ACC — but growing up a Leafs fan, I’m sure he’ll want to do his best to represent himself, his family and our team, as he does every night,” said McLellan.

The Leafs are as pumped for the two headliner kids as anybody.

“Yeah, it’s going to be cool to see both of them (Matthews and McDavid),” said Matthews’ teammate, James van Riemsdyk.

McDavid, also 19, looked back at the instant Young Guns chemistry with Matthews, then the big-bang start for the rookie in Ottawa and it brought a smile to his face. There’s a bond there.

“He’s a good guy (Matthews) and he’s off to a good start. It was fun to play him,” said McDavid.

“We played well together at the World Cup. He thinks the game at a very high level. He’s always moving, he’s fast and he’s got some hands to go along with it. Pretty dangerous set of skills.”

Matthews, who has looked a little tired the past two Leafs games against Montreal and the Islanders, is keen to renew acquaintances, too.

“For sure (it helped his confidence at the World Cup). He’s so easy to play with,” said Matthews, who had six goals and 10 NHL points in October. “He just does everything so well at such a high speed. Being able to play with him was just a blast.”

Nobody has a better feel for Matthews than Marc Crawford, the Senators’ associate coach to head man Guy Boucher, of course. He coached the teenager in Zurich last season and knows what makes him tick.

“There were games back in Switzerland where Auston dominated like he did against us in Ottawa, too. So I saw the same look in him in Ottawa,” said Crawford.

“I was thinking, ‘Holy crap, this might be the last game I coach (NHL).’ ”

Crawford knows Matthews and McDavid are at the vanguard of the youth movement.

“The new players will try anything (offensively). They’re so good with their stick skills through the coaching development they’ve had, and they have so much speed coming through (neutral zone),” said Crawford. “They do things with the puck that people only dream of and in this day and age, where a player can’t be crushed (with a hit) coming through the neutral zone, it’s taken the game to a different level.”

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